Published in Overland Issue 219 Winter 2015 · Uncategorized Terra nullius Reihana Robinson for Joy Harjo We are less than a sliver. Our bilge keel chipped, we travel back in time, bend to the forest, curtsey to the trees. In the forest we do not lose identity. We see past we see future. We open our mouths. Are we mad? Are we on the eve of the end? Is this the reading of Revelations? Or are we in prayer? Singing to forest deities, to water sprites to the fire gods honouring terra celestial. We come from darkness— Ephesians says it all and Euripides before. Into the world of light we are flung courtesy of the vast dark hole. If we are lucky— a tiny toehold Reihana Robinson Reihana Robinson is a writer, environmental activist, and organic farmer living on the Coromandel in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her work is published in the USA, the Pacific and Asia. Auckland University Press published a collection of her work in 2008 and her first solo volume, Aue Rona, was published by Steele Roberts in 2012. reihanarobinson.co.nz More by Reihana Robinson › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 15 April 202615 April 2026 · Climate politics The $67 billion climate betrayal: how Australia’s record fossil fuel subsidies fund global destruction Noa Wynn The contradictions aren't failures of implementation. They're the predictable result of a political system that has decided fossil fuel profits matter more than climate stability, more than the Great Barrier Reef, more than Pacific Islander lives, and more than the future habitability of the planet. 13 April 2026 · Disability The proletarianisation of disability support work: workers’ perspectives on the NDIS Nick Crowley Support workers, rather than creating objects, create a caring relationship. The scrupulous observance of organisational policies and ‘best practice’ codes is not sufficient to create such a relationship. This can only be created when workers take the time to understand their clients and build trusting, authentic, equal relationships with them.
